Amazon is spending big on the Kindle Fire and making a big bet on its high stakes entry to the tablet war. The Fire, which will begin shipping next month, is Amazon’s answer to Apple’s highly popular iPad. Amazon sees the Kindles as a way to boost sales of digital content — including e-books, music, games and applications. Amazon’s third quarter profits plunged 73 per cent while operating expenses rose 48 percent.

Big banks hate the emerging European proposal to rescue Greece. Financial firms are being asked to write off 55 – 60 per cent of the value of their Greek bonds. The losses would be far more than banks previously accepted. European leaders are still struggling to agree on proposals to limit the impact of the sovereign debt crisis, and the Italian government may be on the brink of collapse. Prime Minister Berlusconi is fighting to save his coalition government over European Union demands for more economic reforms.

Another crack in the glass ceiling … Virginia Rometty will take over as IBM CEO in January. She will become one of the most prominent female executives — joining a growing list of CEOs. Last month, Meg Whitman was named as the top executive at Hewlett-Packard. Other women CEOs include Indra Nooyi at Pepsi and Ursula Burns at Xerox.

New numbers on the economy are being released this morning. September durable goods orders may have declined. The Commerce Department releases new homes sales figures.